I’ve been wanting to go see Coen Brothers new movie Burn After Reading since it first came out two months ago (ouch!) and was afraid because of my slowness I wouldn’t be able to catch it in the theater. Happily, when I looked at the movie times yesterday I saw it was still playing in Manhattan. After a trip to an opening event for the Lion Brand Yarn Studio yesterday, I took the missus to go see it. We both really, really enjoyed it. The story is hilarious, Brad Pitt did an amazing job – all the actors were spot on. It really is a Coen Brothers “dark comedy of errors”. I highly recommend it especially if you like the other Coen Brothers movies movies, such as Fargo.
I am all but finished with Fable 2. I have gotten 905 / 1000 achievement points. I have finished all of the main quest, essentially all of the side quests. I own all of the property. I am still collecting the final few silver keys and gargoyles (I think 6 of each left) and because I am a compulsive collector, I will probably finish those two things up before retiring the game. My view is that Fable 2 is a really, really good game. I can strongly recommend it to anybody who wants a fun, beautiful, easy to pick up, directed action RPG. With Fable 2 there is quite a bit to do but you can easily finish the main quest in about 10-15 hours. If you want to complete “everything” it will take about 30-45 hours. I really like the fact that while there are almost always multiple things you can do “next” but you never feel “lost”. The dog and the golden path really make the game shine. I also like that you don’t have to micromanage your armor, weapons, spells, health, etc. Finally, the interactivity with other “people” in the world (computer controlled citizens of the game-world) is really well done. Fable 2 is very polished and definitely worth playing. I would give the game a 9.5 / 10.
As I mentioned before, my next game after Fable 2 is Fallout 3, which is also an RPG. While Fable 2 is more of an Action RPG (it has RPG elements, but the action gameplay is emphasized over the RPG elements – but not nearly as Action-oriented as something like a Diablo), Fallout 3 is much more “standard RPG”. There are lot of stats that you can choose from to define your character and build your character up as you play. Ammo is limited, weapons and armor all degrade. The world is vast and the whole experience is far less directed. While I hear there is also a dog in Fallout 3, within the first few hours of the game I haven’t encountered it, yet. The graphics of the game and the control of the game are solid, but the especially graphics aren’t up to the Fable 2 level – it really does look like Oblivion with slightly better graphics. If you played Oblivion, you will immediately notice Fallout 3 “feels” like Oblivion. The voice acting and UI are noticeably over Oblivion, but honestly it feels like Oblivion with guns, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I am having fun with Fallout 3 so far, but it is a vastly different experience than Fable 2 and I will have to get much further into the game before to get a better feel for it. Stay posted!